Wild Ice
by Gonilin
Summary: Ice is a pup who had just become an official member of the Mountain Top pack, and she has been seeing a strange white wolf around her. All her pack mates have acted strange around her lately too. She's not sure why, but she thinks it has to do with name..
1. Memorable day

Chapter 1

The young wolf pup opened her eyes to her four brothers and sisters surrounding her in the den. She was the youngest of two older sisters, and two older brothers. They were several weeks old and had yet to receive their names. They called each other older sister, older brother, middle sister, middle brother, and she was little sister.

They all figured that she was weak being the youngest of the litter and one of them always stayed close to her for safety. And they all slept around her for _maximum_ protection. She never ate any meat the older pack members brought her either. She figured it was gross to eat pre-digested meat up-chucked by the other wolves. So she found a berry bush and would eat the berries from the bush, then thank her ancestors for her life.

She loved the old ways of the wolf, but as the new humans came chasing the older ones off, they began to lose those ways in order to survive. She always looked forward to the elder wolves stories of the old ways, but most of the time they just talked about battles between other packs. As if she wasn't ready for hearing the old ways.

But that was going to change. She was about to finally start life at its fullest. She would receive her name from her pack mates and begin to train in the ways of battle. But she wasn't looking forward to hunting. Those animals have just the same right of being on the mountain as the packs. She had herd from the elder wolves that there is a long lost pack of wolves that did not kill the female or young prey. Their main food was off of recently killed animals, usually from natural deaths that cannot hurt the wolves if they eat the remains.

She also heard that some decedents could speak with the dear and the moose. Those decedents now live spread through the five packs of the mountain.

She was so excited to get her name that she got up and slowly began to lift her paw over middle brother. But suddenly big brother got up and darted in front of her. He was the second oldest – next to big sister – and a huge know-it-all. Or is that middle brother? She could never tell. Their dark brown pelts looked the same to her.

"Where are you going?" he asked bouncing up and down on his paws, "You know we're not aloud to leave the den until Leaf, Twig or Stump come to get us. And even so you can't leave unless one of us comes with you. And alone you would need all of us."

Big sister stretched awake behind them, "You know I don't think 'Leaf' or 'Twig' will mind if you call them 'mom' and 'dad'."

"Well it's their proper pack names," middle brother joined the argument beneath her, "So as the leaders they should be addressed as such."

"Their proper names are 'Leaf on Twig' and 'Twig that bears Leaf"," said middle sister.

"Only when they became mates. I don't think anyone remembers what their original names are," remarked big brother.

Now all of them were talking at the same time and she was almost to the main entrance room on the den. She slowly backed into the clearing and into a small hole only she can fit into.

"Is all they do fight?" she wondered out loud, "Maybe they'll get named after the noisy woodpeckers."

A shadow fell over the room and her mother walked over and sniffed the hole, "Come on out," she said in a sweet voice, "I know you're in there."

The young pup licked her mother's muzzle and climbed out of the hole, "Hi mom! Do we get our names now?"

Leaf looked at the sun that was high up in the sky now, "It is time."

"Yah!" her tail shot up in the air and she called to her still bickering litter mates, "Come on dudes! It's time! It's time!"

They all looked over and ran toward the entrance. They would have toppled her over if Leaf hadn't picked her up. She had thick almost white brown fur, but her fur fell out at the thought of being up high.

Middle sister came running back when her mother set her down, "Come on sis! Let's go! We have names to receive! And a pack to greet!"

Her sister was the closest to her. She also liked the old ways, and they planned on returning them to the pack. Middle sister was the only black pup in the litter. She also had a white spot on her chest. The rest of the litter was a darker little sister.

The pups emerged from the den and looked up at the large rock in the center of the clearing. On top was the same dark pelted wolf as Big and Middle brother. It was their father Twig. Twig and leaf actually parented almost all the living members of the pack. All the others had joined their ancestors in the havens.

It was time to receive her place in the pack.


	2. Wolf in the Shadows

Chapter 2

The five pups stood in a line in front of the large rock. They stood in age order. Big sister, big brother, middle sister, middle brother, and little sister. Twig stood in front of older sister under the sun high in the sky. It was the time of red leaves and they litter was ready to hunt with the pack.

"As the oldest you shall receive your name first," said Twig, "You shall be known from now until you leave this position in the pack as Doe of many Pups. You have the potential of a true she-leader, and mother of pups."

It was true Doe was a true leader. And a swift runner, and potential mother, just like a doe deer. But it slightly scared her to think about her becoming leader on account of their mother's death.

Then Twig walked over to Big brother, "You shall be known as Eagle in tall Tree. You also have the potential to lead a pack one day, and may your mate think so too." Her brother stood tall, but was careful to keep his tail low to not upset Twig.

Then he came to middle brother, he was slightly shaking but ready to get his name. "You shall be known as Sparrow of the woods. May you sharp scenes bring you to victory in many battles."

Next he came to middle sister. She was sitting so confident looking you couldn't see the nervousness in her eyes unless you really looked hard. "You shall be known as Bear of wolves. May you help to guard our territory for many months to come." Bear dipped her head and Twig walked up the young pup at the end of the line.

He gave her a long blank stare, but did as he did with the others, "You shall be known as Ice under wolves' paws. Let your name shine to all others, and don't let them overlook its meaning."

Finally he rose his head to the sky and said, "I welcome the newest litter of pups as full members of the pack!" then he drew his head back in a howl, and soon the others joined in. The pups looked at each other and joined in to. Ice felt like her spirit had let loose and she was finally a free wolf. Man did she feel stupid…

The next day they were all sitting on pup sit rock with Night, one of the she-wolves. She should have remembered that until a pup is six months old, they aren't aloud to go out with the adults yet.

Ice was laying down on the large flat rock in the hot sun light when she herd rustling in the bushes. She jerked her head up and thought she saw a white wolf tail appear and vanish behind the bushes. She looked down at her littermates on the ground below her.

"But is she okay up there?" Eagle was asking Doe, "What if an eagle comes down and swoops her away?"

Ice could tell that they were talking about her, he was in hushed tone. And so was Doe when she said, "She'll be fine. We aren't pups anymore. And if an eagle dose come, maybe you can tell it to put her down _Eagle_."

Eagle just snorted and put his head on his paws then started mumbling to himself. On the other side of the rock, Bear and Sparrow were practicing their fighting moves. So she just put her head back down and closed her eyes.

A little while later she herd the rustling again and jerked her head up again. She looked out into the bushes and could see what looked like eyes staring at her through the darkness. Her heart seemed to skip a beat and she began breathing really fast. Then she shook her head. This was her territory; she wasn't going to give up out of fear.

She stood up and started growling. Then Night came up and looked puzzlingly at where she was looking at, "What are you growling at?"

Ice straighted up at the sight of nothing there. The wolf must have fled when she closed her eyes to shake her head, "Nothing, just practicing. Do you think it's scary enough?"

"Keep practicing and you'll be great," Night swiped her black tail over her head before walking off the rock to striated up Bear and Sparrow.

Ice let out a sigh and lay down again. But when she closed her eyes, she would see those eyes staring at her, jerking her awake to look into the bushes again.

I am Ice under wolves' paw, she said to the wolf in her mind, don't forget it, don't over look it.

The she closed her eyes again and fell asleep.


	3. Training

Chapter 3

"Welcome to your first day of training young ones."

Root was walking back and forth along the line of young wolves. Root was the strongest and wisest of the male wolves. His job in the pack was to make sure that all the pups were correctly trained, with his young assistant Cloud. Only the two were total opposites. Cloud is a pale white she-wolf, very kind hearted, but to young to be the pup sitter. And Root is a dark brown wolf, very tense, but he has a soft side.

"Lighten up Root," said Cloud, "You're so tense and trying to train these pups perfectly. Just a few days ago you said you would treat them like normal pups."

"This is different," he looked at Ice then back to Cloud, "I'll explain later."

Root put them all facing each other. Doe facing Eagle, Bear facing Sparrow, and then Cloud volunteered to go with Ice. So it was a good thing that Cloud had a birth defect making her small. She would always be pup sized, but Leaf said that she'd be fine.

"Now get into the crouch stance I showed you," ordered Root.

"_We_ showed them," corrected Cloud.

Root rolled his eyes, "Just do it."

The pups got into the stances and looked at each other. Ice looked into Clouds eyes and could tell she wanted to say 'I wont go hard on you', but if she did Root would yell at her.

"Now pounce," ordered Root, but Bear had already pounced.

"This is for the food you took from me yesterday," she said.

While Ice was distracted, Cloud had pounced on her, "Pay attention to your own fight, not your friends."

Ice pushed with all her might against Cloud. And Cloud went flying. She got up with a shocked look on her face. Ice looked over to Root and everyone else who had started to stare at her with wide eyes, "What?" she asked.

A little while later, they had begun stalking practice. Root had them lay almost nose in the dirt, then crawl. Ice tried to get her self out of it by saying she would only live of plants and already dead food under a day old for the rest of her life, but it didn't work.

So there she was, mucking up her fur with dirt that had recently become mud during battle practice. So now she looked like a dog messing around like all the dogs do.

The dogs are wolves people took and bread with other dogs to turn their pups into yapping idiots. That's all they did. Wag their tail high in the air and yap at nothing. That's right, nothing. They just yap for no reason. Yap at air. That's why the packs came farther north, to find peace away from the humans.

The humans cannot survive in the cold winter temperatures on the islands they found. And it took a while for the wolves to adapt. The wolves had to get thicker coats in the winter, and their senses were blinded by how close they are to the top of the planet. But eventually, they learned from other wolves how to survive. But sadly, many packs broke apart to form new ones.

The mountain top pack was not one of them. They all stayed in tacked. They loose some pack members who are desperate to create their own packs like all the others, but they always seemed closer.

The mud was really deep from the littermates churning it up all afternoon. By night fall they were all messy and getting hungry. They are a well fed pack because of the lack of humans, so they eat more than the southern packs.

All of them but Ice were like that now. Ice had been eating some berries at every brake, and cleaning herself in the puddles every time she got up. She was a very neat wolf, and preferred to stay that way.

They began to walk back toward the current dens, and Ice heard the rustling in the bushes again. She looked over and could see a white wolf staring at her with pale blue eyes. Ice didn't move her eyes and tapped Bears shoulder with her tail.

"What?" she asked and looked to where Ice was looking. She stared and cocked her head, "Did you see something?"

Ice was confused. The wolf was gone, again. Something was going on in the mountain top packs territory, something strange and beyond the real world.

And ever since she had received her name, the older wolves had treated her strangely. She had been telling everything she saw, 'My name is Ice under wolves' foot, don't over look it'. But truth is, _I think _I've_ over looked it._


	4. Wolf Protectors

Chapter 4

Ice lay awake that night. She couldn't get the mystery of the wolf out of her mind. She had seen nothing of it before she was named. She couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly there was a cold spot behind her. Her littermates always kept her warm in the middle of a circle, but someone got up.

She turned around and Bear was standing up, "Shih," she told her, "Follow me."

Ice got up and followed her into the main area of the den. They went into the secret hole and Bear began going into a dark corner Ice was always to spooked to go in, "Are you sure we should go that way?" she asked.

Bear just put her tail to Ice's muzzle and motioned to follow.

The corner was actually a hall way. As Bear led her down the hall way, it got darker and darker. But that didn't stop her. She kept walking and turning corners as if it was light as day.

Then they came up to a light. Bear and Ice walked toward it into a room. They were still underground but it was bright. There wasn't even a hole in the sealing to let the moonlight in.

"Where are we?" Ice asked.

"Deep in the den," she answered, "Duh."

Ice rolled her eyes, "Yes, but what is this place? How'd you find it?"

"Well before I came out this morning," she said, "I could smell an odd scent. So I followed it and found this hole. But I could tell you'd been there before since your scent covered it like the mud on our pelts earlier. Then I saw this strange white wolf pup. I followed it down the hall into here. It had the same moon like light, even though the sun was up. Then the wolf looked like it grew into a large full grown wolf, but it couldn't tell. Anyway, it told me to brig you down here tonight. Then he was gone. It was odd."

Ice looked around. The ground was covered with moss. All except for a small pool of water in the center of the room. The rocks were covered in sparkling stones. She walked over to the water and looked into pool. She could see a reflection of the moon in the sky, but you couldn't see the moon from the room.

An odd glow came from the pool and Ice ran behind Bear like the little coward she was. She peeked out from behind Bear, and a mist was surrounding the pool. From the mist a sparkling white wolf appeared.

"It's great to finally meet you," he said "My name is Isis. I lived in Icicle Creek for my years on earth. Now it is my job to help the next wolf protectors finish their training."

"Wolf protectors?" asked Bear, "You mean the wolf that is supposed to protect all wolves from danger? I thought those were just elder wolf tales."

"That's what I thought until I discovered I was the next one. You were born when I died. That's how it always works."

"But I thought there's only supposed to be one," said Ice shakily.

"You were born at the same time. If that happens, then it divides between the two," Isis said calmly.

"Just one last q," said Bear, "Where are we?"

"This it the wolf protectors cave. Where young protectors are trained to use there power and protect the ways of the wolf. This brings me to your first task as protectors. You need to recover the old ways and return them to the packs. Other wise, there is no way for the protectors, or the past protectors spirits, to prevent wars from rising."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Ice asked, "No one ever tells us about the old ways."

"Most of them are still secretly used. So it shouldn't be hard," he said, "Jus meet with me here every training day, so we can continue your training here."

Before Ice could ask anything else, Isis disappeared and they were alone in the cave.

Bear yawned, "Well. See you in the morning."

"Aren't you even curious?" asked Ice.

"About what? I became a wolf protector because I came out at the same time as you. You're the wolf protector, not me."

"What do you mean?"

"You were destined to be a protector; I got landed with it because we came to the world at the same time. Did you overlook your name? I didn't. You're the ice under a wolfs feet that makes them fall. Your name reefers to the bad wolves. You're the ice that keeps bad wolves from destroying the balance between the packs. Get it? I'll see you in the morning."

Bear walked off through the tunnel, and left Ice to sit alone in the cave.


	5. Monthly Cleaning

Chapter 5

It wasn't till morning that Ice got back to the other pups. She had stayed in the cave all night, trying to contact Isis again. She had no luck. All she herd was the hooting of owls, and the scuffling if squirrels above her. She thought she dosed of once or twice in the cave, but she couldn't be sure.

She had some trouble getting through the tunnel back to the den. She had to follow Bears scent back, which is harder than it looks when she takes sharp turns, letting Ice run into the wall. So when she finally made it back to the nest, not only did her head already hurt, she conked heads with Sparrow, who was apparently panicking. So that didn't help her head ach.

"Watch where your-" he cut off, "Ice! Where have you been? We all started panicking! Except for Bear who just went right back to sleep… but still!"

Eagle came over with a stern stare on his face, "Ice where have you been? You know the rules, we-"

"We're not allowed to leave the den unsupervised, or especially at night. If the rule is broken, it will resolve in serious punishment. Also, no eating food that has not been checked, or training without approval from an older wolf," she said by memory, "Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to get some sleep and time away from the rules that _you_ created. I think I'll stick to mom's rules."  
Leaving a surprised expression on Eagles face, she walked over to her spot in the middle of the nest and went to sleep.

When Ice woke up, Doe and Bear were washing each other. Doe looked up, "Well good afternoon sleepy head," she said, "Bear told me where you went last night."

Ice stood up, "You _told _her?" her fur began to stand up.

"Relax fuzz ball," she responded calmly, "Isis told me it was okay to keep it between the girls."

Ice's fur relaxed again, "You sure?"

"Positive," she walked over to Ice, "Now let's fix your fur. You look like you wrestled a bear in your sleep."

"Well I almost did last night."

Doe walked over and giggled, "Very funny," she said, "The boys are out training, so it's okay if you look bad. But let's fix it anyway."

Then Ice remembered what night it was. The full moon night. The girls always cleaned themselves on full moons; the males don't do it any more. The old wolves believed that they should look their best on the full moon, because that's when it is easiest for the spirits to communicate with them. Just another tradition lost on the way to the mountain.

"I'll go get something to get those ticks and fleas out of our fur," said Doe, and she ran off to find Leaf. She knew what got them out.

"I think I know where to start on our mission," said Bear, "We have to get the males to clean themselves on the full moon again. Instead, now, they just train all day. Today is supposed to be a resting day for wolves. Like a celebration about how the packs have survived another month."

"I thought you said you weren't going to help me," said Ice.

Bear smiled, "Hay, we both got chosen, even if I was just given this job because of you. It had to be for a reason."

Ice smiled back, "Thanks Bear, you're the best."

Doe walked back in with three leaves in her mouth. She set them down, and opened one of them. Inside was two paws full of pollen. "To do this we have to wait and go down to the creak with the rest of the she-wolves," she said, "It's not worthy for the spirits to see you prancing across the forest covered in pollen."

"So when are we going?" asked Bear.

"A little while before twilight."

"How are we going to get the males to come with us by twilight?" asked Ice.

"Why do we need the males?" Doe cocked her head.

"This is one of the ancient traditions that Isis wants us to restore," explained Bear, "We just have to get the males to come."

Doe nodded, "That makes sense. But how? We have about six males in the pack, and five are out hunting. _And_ it's not long till twilight."

They all paused to think for a moment. Ice came up with an idea, "Well the hunting patrol usually gets back at around now," she said, "And all we have to do is convince Twig. Then the rest of the pack will have to follow orders."

"Then eventually, they get used to the idea and we can spread it to the other packs!" finished Bear, "You're a genius!"

Ice just smiled.


	6. Mud lovers convinced!

Chapter 6

Not as easy as she thought. She wanted to have some of the wolves agreeing with them, it would make it easier to do the same with Twig. Kind of like practice, only if you win in the practice round, you get to have back up for the big thing.

Ice, Bear, and Doe decided to go to the training hollow, that's where the only males were at the time that weren't out hunting. Only problem, what young wolf in its right mind would listen to his sisters about grooming. Ever since Eagle got his name, he has been less about being smart, and all about being a big pile of mud. Grooming did not come easy, and when it did, it didn't last.

"C'mon on Eagle!"

"Let me think…no."

Who was the one begging? Truthfully, they all tried, nothing. Now for Sparrow, his down side, he hated the old ways so much, he wanted every trace eliminated. He called it, 'the twenty first century'.

"Why not?"

"Because there are no such thing as spirits, and even if there were, they would not be fully powerful at the full moon. The size of the moon would actually block them from coming down. So it would be under the darkness of the new moon when the moon isn't there. And if they come down in the dark night, then they must be evil."

Ice blinked trying to understand what her brother just said. But then Doe stood up. And in a quite fast way, she said, "The moon is never actually gone dufus. It is just covered by the earth's shadow. And the spirits are said to live in the light of the moon. At certain moon sizes they have certain amounts of power. Making them most powerful at the full moon. And if you call them evil, then you're calling your ancestors evil."

They all blinked. And even though Bear had no idea what her sister said, she said, "She's got a point ya know."

Sparrow stood there for another second before saying, "Fine. I'll do it, but I won't like it."

"What are you pups talking about here?" Root walked over to them, probably wondering why they aren't training. So they took advantage of this moment to try and convince Root. "Sure. I'll do anything to get out of training you big brother there. He's a mess, literally."

"What!" Eagle walked over, "How could you? It's one of the _old_ ways! This is a new home and generation! And how could you not enjoy training me."

"Well pup I do, but you smell like you smell like rotted meat. Look at you, there are flies buzzing around you. You even lost focus playing with it."

Ice giggled. But then Eagle gave her a dirty look and she turned away.

"Fine," he finally admitted, "I guess cleaning up every once in a while isn't a bad idea."

"Now, I don't want to be the party pooper here but…" started Doe, "How are we going to convince Twig?"

"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please!"

It was unison of little she-pups begging to their father, a mud lover from birth, to clean up. Now can't you just guess the outcome?

"Sure," he said (bet you didn't see that coming), "I grew up with those ways. It was a nice way of living. Things much more organized. It dose feel nice to get cleaned after a month of mess."

Several of the elder wolves barked their approval also.

"Well then," started Doe, "I'm ganna need _a lot _more pollen."


End file.
